Moon Child
by Shadow Rise
Summary: Remus encounters his crush in the library. ONESHOT
1. moon

**Name:** Andii  
**Most used screen-name:** andii_shadow  
**Prompt:** #4 (shine)  
**Title:** Moon Child  
**Word Count:** 912

Moon Child

It was a rainy Saturday afternoon that found Remus Lupin on the second floor of the library with his head in the stacks, searching out some rarely-used book or another. Remus had always been a bookworm, but it was very unusual to find him in the library on a Saturday. He would usually be in the Gryffindor common room playing Wizard's Chess with James, or joking with Sirius, or perhaps giving Peter advice on his homework. But today was dreary weather and his friends were sleeping in. They had been up all night with him, after all; they deserved to rest.

Remus, however, had homework to catch up on and mid-term exams to study for, with Transfiguration at the top of that list. With the weather being so dreadful, it was a prime opportunity for the young wizard to study, as Hogwarts students, being the procrastinating lumps that they were, tended to stick to their common rooms or four-posters during rainy weekends, leaving Remus to the near-empty library. It was bliss.

As Remus poured over volume after volume and an endless train of notes, he suddenly heard a very soft _thud_. He straightened his back, tilting his head to the side to listen. A moment later, there it was again — _thud_. He stood from his table, heading towards the stacks to investigate.

_Thud._

He pulled out his wand.

_Thud._

He rounded the corner.

_Thud._

He saw her.

Golden hair tossed like a wave on the sea behind her as she jumped, her hand reached up in earnest as she tried to grab a book from one of the uppermost shelves. Her expression was not strained or disgruntled, as he would've expected, but calculating instead. Like the question for her wasn't _if_ she'd get the book, but _how_.

Remus sidled up beside her, placing a hand on her shoulder to stop her hopping (the source of the thudding). "May I?" he interjected, kindly smiling down at the younger witch.

"Oh! Hello, Remus!" she said, her outstretched hand falling to her heart. "I didn't hear you."

"Hello, Cynthia," he replied as he reached up and easily grabbed the tome for her, his kind smile still in place. "Why didn't you use the ladder?"

"Daniel Corner decided to do a Sticking Charm on all of them after he tossed that up there," she said, seemingly unperturbed, tucking her hair behind her ear as she took the book from him. "Thank you."

"Anytime."

She smiled at him, clutching the book to her chest as they walked together into the main part of the library. "How have you been? Peter mentioned you weren't feeling so well the last few days."

Remus shrugged. "Fine… just a bit under the weather."

She nodded and tucked another disturbed hair behind her ear. He smiled to himself as he noticed this, her most frequent habit showing itself. He rather liked Cynthia Channary, partially due to her amazing intelligence, but also because of her charming habits and mannerisms. She was a unique girl, uninhibited and unafraid to be her own person. That was, perhaps, another reason Remus liked her. She was constantly tormented by her fellow Ravenclaws for being such an oddity, but she carried on, nonplussed by their prejudice.

She inspired him. She shined like a star in the dark sky of his life. One of few stars… James, Sirius, Peter, Lily… Cynthia was a special star, perhaps a constellation… _Perhaps a moon,_ he thought. A moon seemed appropriate, considering the brilliant spheres that were her eyes… and the danger that surrounded a relationship with her. _Yes,_ he thought solemnly. _She's my moon._

"Oh." Her voice was a soft, breathless thing. Like everything was so beautiful that it took her breath away. "Look at that."

Remus followed her gaze to the large window, a fierce storm taking place just outside. Lightning bolts zigzagged through the sky, falling down from dark, foreboding clouds with a _boom_ of thunder. Sheets of rain fell against the window, nearly blinding the pair to anything outside. The lightning, however, would be hidden by nothing. It cut through the skies, separating clouds, fierce and angry.

He tore his eyes from the scene playing out in front of him and turned to Cynthia. She continued to watch the storm, her eyes wide and captivated. Her Cupid's bow mouth fell open in awe as two bolts of lightning clashed together, and Remus had to fight off thoughts of kissing that pretty mouth. What would her kiss taste like? She smelled like lavender, like a Roman goddess…

He mentally shook himself. Where was his head? Why did her presence always do this to him? She was the moon! She was untouchable, unreachable. She wouldn't want him if she knew the truth, and he wasn't about to risk hurting her even if she did.

But as Remus continued to watch her, her attentions centered upon the amazing forces of nature outside, he couldn't help being spellbound by her. She was beautiful, intelligent, and kind… so much like Lily that he couldn't believe they weren't closer friends… But she was still unique, seeing the world in her own way. Who else would stand and watch a thunderstorm in the library? Who else would simply ignore Daniel Corner's idiocy instead of hexing his bits off? Not Lily Evans, that was for sure, and not any other girl he'd met at Hogwarts.

Yes, she was the moon.

And he was her servant.

As always.

**……………………………………………………………………………………………………….**

A/N: A few winks to mention…

*Cynthia Channary is Luna Lovegood's mother.

**Romans often bathed in lavender back in the day, so that's the explanation for her "smell[ing] like… a Roman goddess…"

***"Cynthia" is one of the goddess Artemis' many names. Artemis was identified with Selene, a Greek moon goddess. "Channary" means "full moon." So, yeah, she's the moon, alright. =]


	2. acceptance

**Name:** Andii  
**Most used screen-name: ** andii_shadow  
**Prompt: ** #6 Author's Choice

**Title:** Acceptance  
**Word Count:** 427

Acceptance

Cynthia watched the rain dribble down the window as the storm began to calm. The clouds had changed from their dark near-black color to a lighter, less distinguishable hue. It was like melted rainbow sherbet ice cream, all the colors muddled into a sad swirl of colorless goop. She nodded to herself resolutely. Yes, that was the color.

Remus shifted his feet next to her, diverting her attention from the oddly colored clouds. He looked haggard and weary, too old for his seventeen years. His kind eyes had dark, heavy bags beneath them, making her want to frown every time she looked at him. He was killing himself, slowly but surely, by denying what he was.

She understood prejudice. She understood being the outcast. She was an oddball, a freak. She knew he wanted to satisfy everyone, to fit in, and she understood that desire. The need for companionship and closeness to anyone that would allow it… But she knew what she was and she didn't let it own her and she didn't try to fight it. She was an oddball, and she was proud.

Remus was a werewolf, though, and that was a good deal different from being 'a bit off'. It was a political thing, something born and bred into every witch or wizard that knew about the wizarding world. It was fear and ignorance and it was bloody ridiculous. Was it his fault that he'd been bitten? Infected? Lycanthropy was a sickness, just like Dragon Pox. Shouldn't they be trying to find a cure instead of ostracizing him?

But, as easy as it was to just go along with the prejudice instilled from birth, he had to give up fighting the wolf. Even if it wasn't truly him, even if he was really a good person… he still shared a body with a wolf. And that body wasn't big enough for the two of them separately.

Cynthia shook herself mentally, watching the sunlight peek through the clouds. Did that thought even make sense? She shrugged to herself and came back to reality. Who cared anyways? He didn't even know she knew about his lycanthropy, so what did her philosophy of the situation matter?

"Would you like some help with that?" he asked suddenly.

Cynthia looked at him, rather lost as to what he meant. "Your essay?" She looked down to see the parchment of her Charms homework sticking out of her textbook.

"Sure, Remus." She followed him back to his table, her fingers itching to touch his face, to smooth the worry lines away.


End file.
